


The Curious Case of the Synchronous Diaphragmatic Flutter

by jane_x80



Series: It all started with the hiccups [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Kittens, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sick Tony, Yoga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8870248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jane_x80/pseuds/jane_x80
Summary: Tony has a persistent case of the hiccups, which leads to Gibbs caring for him and there is even a kitten.A Stocking Stuffer for cutsycat, fulfilling her request in the Happy Holiday Challenge: Holiday Wishes on LJ.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cutsycat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/gifts).



> This is a Stocking Stuffer for cutsycat's request in the [Happy Holiday Challenge: Holiday Wishes on LJ](http://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/54589.html).
> 
> Note: This is NOT a continuation/sequel to [I'm Feeling Down](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8575372). Yes, cutsycat. This is yet another kitten fic for you. Unrelated to the one I already wrote for you.
> 
> Prompt: Tony gets sick and Gibbs takes care of him. Bonus points if it includes kittens or domestic cats.  
> Genre (Het, Gen, Slash or Any): Gen or Slash  
> Pairings (optional): Anthony DiNozzo/Jethro Gibbs or they can just be friends and not have a pairing whatever works.  
> Characters (must include at least one character from the original NCIS series): Anthony DiNozzo, Jethro Gibbs  
> Things you would like to see in a story or artwork: Kittens, Cuddling, TLC, Hand feeding, etc.  
> Things you do not want to see in a story or artwork: Scat, Pee/Poo/Blood play, Humiliation. Feel free to reference my secret santa entry for more general likes/dislikes http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50533.html  
> Type of work (optional - if you specifically would like a story, icon, banner, etc.):
> 
> cutsycat, I know I already wrote you a Sick Tony with a Kitten story for your birthday, so I had to try to make this one different. Your next prompt cannot have Sick Tony + Kittens combination, ok! LOL. Took me a while to get the idea going but I hope you still like it. I suppose I could have just written a sequel but I wanted to write something different. :D
> 
> Also a HUGE caveat in that I have only done yoga once, when I was a senior in high school (which I won't say what year that was). Suffice it to say it was not last year ;) and I was totally winging that section. So please, if you are yoga enthusiasts and you see all the inaccuracies, I do apologize in advance! :D

Tony’s hiccups were funny when they were sitting together in the bullpen having dinner. As they dug into their Chinese takeout containers, Tony kept hiccupping and excusing himself, and everyone was laughing at him. For some odd reason, the topic of conversation centered around the pets they’d had growing up.

McGee had had guinea pigs. “They took moving from base to base well,” he’d claimed.

Abby had had all kinds of animals, all strays or rescues, from cats and dogs to geckos, spiders and even a raccoon that she’d nursed back to health and released back into the wild when she was twelve. Bishop had had many cats and dogs on the farm. There had been horses too, but they didn’t really qualify as pets, as they’d been work horses. Gibbs admitted to having a dog for most of his childhood and the dog had died when he was a Senior in high school.

Tony remained silent, other than the hiccups.

“Tony?” McGee asked. “Did you have pets growing up?”

Tony made a face. “It didn’t go well for my sea monkeys,” he grinned easily, despite the hiccups. “Senior didn’t like animals in the house. Never had pets until Kate and Ziva,” he talked about his goldfish.

“Oh, Tony!” Abby was immediately sad. “That sucks. I loved my animals when I was a kid.”

“Can’t miss what you never had,” Tony dismissed her concern.

“Was there something that you always wanted?” Abby persisted.

Tony sighed. “Would’ve – hic! – been nice to have a kitten,” he finally admitted softly. “Always liked cats. Warm and fuzzy and cuddly, while being low maintenance and independent. Keep them fed and petted, keep the litter box clean, and have some toys and that’s it. No walks or poop picking up,” Tony hiccupped through the words and made a face every time it happened.

The team laughed, although Gibbs wondered, how many times had Tony petitioned his father for a cat and never given the go ahead. Pets were good for children. Hell, if Tony wanted a cat now, he could see how that would be good for his senior field agent, too. A warm fuzzy thing for him to love? It gave Gibbs the warm fuzzies to think of a happy Tony, curled up on his old couch, petting a kitten in front of his fireplace. _His_ couch? _His_ fireplace? Maudlin thoughts. He shook them off and after they finished eating, dismissed his team ordering them to be back bright and early.

Gibbs spent the entire next morning in MTAC while his team worked on the case they were investigating. They were a well-oiled machine and he really didn’t even need to poke his nose into the details anymore. DiNozzo took care of all that for him now. The man desperately needed his own team, but Gibbs was selfish and wasn’t going to give him the push he needed. He liked having DiNozzo around, not just at work but also at home, where the younger man often showed up bearing food and drinks, or was invited over for cowboy steaks and beer.

After his long MTAC meetings were over, he ran down the stairs. He knew something was up when he walked into the bullpen and McGee and Bishop were sitting on DiNozzo’s desk and Abby was in his chair. DiNozzo himself was in his cube but he was standing on his head. Gibbs found himself admiring the man’s toned and muscular legs, still encased in dress pants, but he’d taken his tie, socks and shoes off. Gibbs stopped, cocked his head and stared.

DiNozzo was flat on his head with his suit jacket cushioning his head slightly, his arms in front of him, palms down in front of his face. His toes were pointed and his dress pants had fallen down a little, revealing well-muscled calves.

“Hey DiNozzo,” Gibbs greeted him casually.

“Hey Boss,” Tony replied, just as nonchalantly. “I bet you’re – hic! – wonder what the hell I’m d-d – hic! – doing on my – hic! – head, right?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Gibbs said.

“Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!” Abby jumped up off DiNozzo’s chair and threw herself into his arms for a tight hug. “Tony _still_ has the hiccups!”

Gibbs rolled his eyes, watching as Tony hiccupped some more. “No shit, Abs,” he said mildly, although he returned her hug, squeezing her gently.

“Bishop told him to drink cold water upside down,” McGee told Gibbs. “And somehow that led to Tony standing on his head.”

“Did he drink the cold water already?” Gibbs asked.

Bishop made a face as she nodded. “Didn’t help,” she sighed.

“Why’s he still on his head then?” Gibbs asked the obvious question.

Abby giggled. “Because he claims he knew all these standing on his head yoga poses and we didn’t believe him!”

“You all – hic! – owe me twenty bucks each!” Tony told them.

“I don’t know,” McGee scoffed. “This is only one headstand pose. You said you knew a bunch of them.”

“There’s more?” Gibbs asked, curious now.

Tony sighed and hiccupped through his sigh. “I need more room,” he managed to get out in between several hiccups. Smoothly, he folded his legs down and gained his feet. He moved his jacket with him in front of the plasma where there was more room, and somehow, Gibbs wasn’t sure how it happened, he’d gracefully inverted himself back into the same position, top of his head flat on the floor, body straight as an arrow, toes pointed, elbows ninety-degree angle, palms down in front of his face.

“Sirsasana,” Tony said softly, his expression relaxed, disturbed only by the persistent hiccups.

Abby looked up from her phone, “Basic headstand,” she read out. “It’s Advanced level, McGee!” she was excited.

Tony moved his arms closer to his head, supporting it gently to stabilize himself, and scissored one leg down, the other leg still straight up, keeping both his knees straight and toes pointed until the toes of the lowered foot were touching the floor. “Eke Pada Sirsasana,” he said, his voice still gentle.

“Shit, Tony,” McGee sounded impressed.

Tony was moving again, pulling his leg back up so they were both straight up, toes still pointed. He somehow maneuvered it – how the fuck he was moving so slowly and gently and how his pants weren’t splitting at the seams, Gibbs didn’t know – but his feet were now soles flat together, knees apart, making him look like an upside down frog about to jump into a pond or someone giving a blessing with his feet.

“Baddha Kona Sirsasana,” Tony said, his tone still soothing and gentle.

He straightened his legs again then bent his legs one in front, one behind him, toes still pointed so he looked like a gazelle jumping away. Whatever he said Gibbs missed because next he straightened his legs up again, then flattened his forearms, palm down and just lifted himself up off the ground, supporting his whole weight on his forearms, head off the floor, body still arrow straight, toes pointed. He held this pose for a number of breaths. Then he was doing a full handstand and bending backwards until his feet were flat on the floor, his body curved upwards in an almost perfect semicircle.

“Chakrasana,” Tony breathed, and hiccupped.

“Wheel pose, I know that one!” Bishop exclaimed.

And then Tony was back on his feet, face red from blood rushing to it from being inverted for so long. “Didn’t do jack for the hiccups though,” he complained, still hiccupping.

“Shit, Tony. I didn’t realize you’re so flexible,” Abby said admiringly.

Tony laughed. “My sexual partners have not yet complained,” he winked at her.

Gibbs’ pants tightened at the thought of being able to fold Tony like a pretzel as he fucked him, Tony’s knees by his ears, god what an image, and he growled. They were at work and he was not to indulge in stupid fantasies at work, no matter what Tony was doing to add to the images in his own personal, jealously guarded mental catalog of special jack-off images featuring the younger man.

“Get back to work!” he snapped, and his team hopped to. Or in Tony’s case, he hiccupped to. And how the man could manage to make the hiccups so fucking sexy Gibbs didn’t know. But it was truly starting to annoy him now.

By the end of the day when Tony’s hiccups hadn’t stopped, everyone at NCIS had stopped by to give him advice on how to get them to stop. Tony had drunk cold water, held his breath, drunk more cold water while standing on his head, drunk ginger ale, eaten spoonfuls of sugar, been so surprised when he walked back in from lunch when Abby jumped out to scare the hiccups out of him that he had instinctively pinned her down against his desk, gun to her head, cuffs in his other hand, and he’d eaten so much peanut butter he claimed he was developing a peanut allergy. Gibbs had tried to send him to Ducky but Tony insisted it was just the hiccups and it would go away.

“It’s been twenty four hours, DiNozzo!” Gibbs had yelled at him.

“It’s the fucking hiccups!” Tony yelled back fiercely, although the effect was ruined by an untimely hiccup.

Gibbs shook his head. “Did you get any sleep last night?” He saw the dark circles under Tony’s eyes, and the exhaustion in the lines of his lips.

“I’m fine,” Tony deflected.

“It can’t be healthy for you to have the hiccups this long.”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Tony growled back, still hiccupping.

Gibbs threw up his hands. “I don’t want you out in the field until they’ve stopped,” he told the younger man.

“You’re benching – hic! – me, for the – hic! – _hiccups?_ ” Tony was outraged.

“You can’t control them, and they could mean the difference between you getting shot or you shooting someone. So. Shut up and sit at your desk, until this goes away.”

Tony threw himself into his chair, muttering under his breath, still hiccupping away.

The next morning, Gibbs swept into the bullpen and DiNozzo was conspicuously absent. “Where’s DiNozzo?” he snapped at McGee.

“He still had the hiccups when we came in this morning,” McGee said. “I called Ducky up here because Tony looked awful. Ducky sent him home with strict orders to rest. If the hiccups don’t stop tonight, Ducky’s going to take him to the hospital. Apparently forty eight hours of the hiccups is some kind of threshold. Ducky said he’ll want them to run tests on Tony. Hiccups can be the symptoms for some serious health conditions, Boss,” McGee looked guilty. “We were laughing at him because of it!”

“Don’t kill him off yet,” Gibbs rolled his eyes. If the plague couldn’t finish DiNozzo off, then the hiccups didn’t stand a chance, he was positive. Still, it worried him that DiNozzo hadn’t even left him a voicemail explaining what was going on. Tony always did that.

At lunch he went to Tony’s apartment and brought him a sandwich from his favorite deli. DiNozzo answered the door, dressed simply in sweatpants and a faded NCIS t-shirt. He was surprised that Gibbs had come bearing food. He was still hiccupping uncontrollably, and looked completely exhausted.

Gibbs sat in silence, watching as the younger man ate slowly, pausing to hiccup often. He took little bites and barely managed a third of the sandwich before he gave up. He sipped water carefully.

“McGee told me what Ducky’s planning,” Gibbs finally said.

Tony sighed and nodded.

“I’ll come with you,” Gibbs told him, not making it a choice.

Tony nodded again.

“Can I get you anything else?” Gibbs offered.

Tony shook his head.

“You slept any the past two nights?”

Tony shook his head sadly. He looked tired and dejected and lonely, rattling around in his immaculate apartment all by himself.

Gibbs sighed. “C’mon,” he held his hand out and was amazed when Tony took it. He pulled DiNozzo out of the chair, and gripping it tightly, he pulled Tony to the bedroom. He made his agent lie down, pulled the covers up around him, and sat on the side of the bed, silently running his fingers through Tony’s hair. He’d learned this about the younger man when Tony was recovering from the plague. Fingers through his hair made him drowsy and relaxed. And so he carded his fingers through Tony’s hair now, until slowly, the tension leeched from Tony’s body and he began to relax. The younger man yawned, and heavy eyelids slid shut, and he fell asleep, even though his body was wracked with hiccups periodically. When Gibbs stopped his fingers, Tony would whimper and moan, pouting in his sleep, and Gibbs would continue. Until finally, he was able to stop and Tony remained peacefully asleep. He carefully untangled Tony’s fingers from the front of his shirt. Somehow Tony had ended up clutching at his shirt some time after he’d fallen asleep but before Gibbs was able to stop playing with his hair. Gibbs stood, watching the sleeping man who was still plagued with the hiccups. He watched the sleeping figure for a few minutes. Finally Gibbs left. But he had a plan to help DiNozzo feel better. Or so he hoped.

He talked to Abby on the phone as he carried out his plan. He was letting himself back into Tony’s apartment a couple of hours later, pleased and surprised to find that the younger man was still asleep. Tony had turned onto his belly and kicked off the covers.

Gibbs was setting things up in Tony’s kitchen when the younger man shuffled out of the bedroom, eyes sleep heavy, hair mussed and tousled, hiccups still going strong.

“Still here?” he looked at Gibbs, confused.

“Came back,” Gibbs said. “Brought you something.”

Gibbs opened a pet carrier and gently scooped out its occupant, a tiny, fluffy, smoky-gray kitten with large green eyes. It mewed when Gibbs deposited it in Tony’s surprised hands. The younger man immediately cradled it gently to his chest, even though his face still showed shock and disbelief.

“Wh-what?” Tony asked. Then a loud hiccup shook his body and the kitten jumped at the movement, and scrabbled to try to leave him.

Gibbs took the kitten away and frowned as it calmed down.

“Said you always wanted a kitten,” Gibbs said.

“When I was a kid,” Tony countered. Every time he hiccupped, the kitten tensed its body and looked at Tony with scared eyes. “Besides the thing’s afraid of the hiccups.” Tony was hiccupping at almost every word now, and the kitten kept tensing up.

Gibbs petted the little creature soothingly. “He just has the hiccups,” he told it softly. “You’ll like him.” He thrust the kitten back into Tony’s arms, and Tony snuggled the warm, fuzzy body in the crook of his arm. The kitten still jumped with Tony’s every hiccup, but now it seemed to be more sympathetic and was kneading Tony’s chest with its front paws.

“Why’d you get me a kitten?” Tony finally asked.

“He needed a home. And it sounded like you needed a pet. Other than the girls.”

The kitten purred and began rubbing itself on Tony’s arms and chest.

“See? He likes you,” Gibbs smiled, scratching the kitten’s head.

Tony stared at Gibbs and then the cat and then Gibbs again before he sighed and continued to pet the kitten.

“I’ve set everything up that you’ll need for the cat,” Gibbs muttered. “And I’ve got a duplicate of everything for my house so he can go from your house to mine to visit every so often.”

Tony stared at Gibbs. “We’re going to have a kitten together?” he said, his tone one of complete disbelief.

“Figure neither of us probably wants to commit full time to a pet but lord knows you could do with something warm to cuddle when you come home from work.”

“That’s what I have anonymous sex for, Gibbs,” Tony quipped. “Besides, DiNozzos don’t cuddle.”

Gibbs glared at him, grinning inwardly when he saw Tony smirk. Tony had been so down earlier, and despite his objections, he still hadn’t let the kitten go since Gibbs had dumped it back in his arms again.

“You sleep OK?” Gibbs asked.

Tony nodded, smiling gratefully. “I did, thanks. Whatever magic you did, really helped. So thanks.”

Gibbs nodded. “Ducky’ll be here soon. I’ll watch the cat. Go shower and we’ll head to the hospital with Ducky.”

Tony pouted. “I don’t want to go to the hospital,” he whined. “They always poke and prod and have big needles and scary drugs that make me loopy.”

Gibbs grinned. “I’ll hold your hand if they bring out the needles, DiNozzo.”

Huffing sadly, Tony handed the cat to Gibbs. “Keep an eye on him while I shower,” he told the older man before he disappeared.

When Tony came back out, freshly showered and dressed in battered old jeans and a t-shirt with his fraternity Greek letters, he ended up on the sofa with Gibbs and the kitten. And that was where Ducky and Abby found them. Abby had let herself and the old doctor in with her key. Tony was curled up on the sofa, the kitten in his lap, his head on Gibbs’ chest, and Gibbs was practically curled protectively around the younger man.

Abby cooed and melted at the sight. Even though Tony kept hiccupping, neither the kitten nor Gibbs seemed willing to leave the man. She grinned and told Tony she was on kitten-sitting duty until Tony returned, because the kitten was too new to Tony’s apartment to be left by itself for too long. Tony nodded and let Ducky and Gibbs make him put a coat and scarf on.

“What’s your cat’s name?” Abby asked as Tony was being herded out the door by both Ducky and Gibbs.

“Thomas,” Tony said. “I call him Tom.”

“Tomcat?” Ducky asked. “Seems rather mundane for you, Anthony.”

“Full name’s Thomas Magnum,” Tony muttered, blushing.

“Ah, that infernal television show that you are ever so fond of,” Ducky nodded knowingly.

Tony nodded, grinning.

“Very well, then. Thomas it is. Shall we go?”

Tony was taken to the hospital where Ducky had already called ahead. As expected, he was poked and prodded. They did indeed use the big needles to take his blood as well as other tissue samples, and he had to give several other kinds of samples. He was run through several machines, regardless of his protests. Throughout it all, Gibbs kept his promise and held his hand. Even for the non-big needle parts. Finally when it was quite late, they allowed him to go home and would call him with the results of the test.

Tony was sick to death of the hiccups by then. Ducky promised to give him a shot that would help ease the hiccups, although it was still important that Tony go through all the tests in order to find out if there was a hidden, more serious underlying cause for them. But the shot would make Tony drowsy so Ducky would give it to the younger man when they got home.

Gibbs drove them back to Tony’s apartment and held his hand all the way back there, and even while they walked up the stairs. Ducky, wisely, pretended not to notice anything. Abby left once the boys were back, and Tony got himself ready for bed. He was only wearing boxers, which was a concession to Ducky and Gibbs being there. He preferred sleeping in the buff. But Gibbs was still attached to his hand, and Tony had no desire to separate from him, so he left his boxers on and let Gibbs pull the covers up around him and tuck Tom-kitten in bed with him. Ducky gave him the shot, patted his arm, and assured him that he would be back in the morning to give him another shot, should it be needed. Then he quietly left after patting Gibbs’ back.

Tony began yawning almost immediately and his speech started slurring. “You should get some sleep too,” he mumbled, getting through the sentence with only one hiccup, an improvement over what it had been earlier.

Gibbs smiled. “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”

Tony pouted. “Come cuddle me and Tom,” he pleaded. “We’re lonely.”

Gibbs shook his head. “No can do, DiNozzo.”

“You know you want to,” Tony said, his tone both sleepy and seductive.

Gibbs shuddered, fighting the hot stab of desire that went through him. If Tony were truly aware of what he was saying, he might have gotten in the bed with him. But as it was, the man was drugged out of his mind and probably completely unaware of what was going on. Gibbs shushed him and began running his fingers through Tony’s hair again.

“S’not fair,” Tony mumbled, eyes drooping. “You know it always makes me sleepy when you play with my hair.”

Gibbs smiled. “Sleep,” he told him, his tone gentle.

“I liked when you held my hand,” Tony confessed, eyes mostly closed, reaching a hand out.

Gibbs took it and held it, while he carded the fingers of his other hand through Tony’s hair. It took only a few more moments before Tony was asleep. Gibbs sat in the chair and finally fell asleep, feet on Tony’s bed, leaning back in the chair.

The hiccups slowly went away with the help of Ducky’s drugs, over the next thirty six hours. Gibbs stayed with Tony the whole time, holding his hand, and holding the sleeping Tony against his body when he fell asleep on the sofa trying to watch a movie. Tom-kitten became a fixture in Tony’s arms while he slept, and Tony became a fixture in Gibbs’ arms, whether Tony was awake or asleep. Tests came back negative for Tony, which was a relief to both himself and Gibbs. Just a freak weird persistent case of the hiccups that needed Ducky’s medication to make them go away.

When Tony went back to work, hiccups cured, he worried about the kitten all by itself in his apartment. McGee helped to install webcams around Tony’s apartment so he could keep an eye on the kitten while they were at work. One night, when McGee came back to work to check something on his computer and Tony’s computer, he found the kitten-cam feed on and despite trying not to look into Tony’s apartment, the feed caught his eye. Interestingly, he saw that Gibbs was sleeping in the tiny little twin bed with Tony sprawled face down on him and around him and the kitten was sleeping on Tony’s bare back. He rolled his eyes. It was about freaking time. He wondered who won the pool. It was a long-standing pool that nobody had won in over a decade. But then he decided that they could do with some alone time before people found out about them. This one thing he could do for his best friend, give him the privacy and time to find his groove with Gibbs. A new and different groove than the one they had at work. One that was much more intimate, he would guess, given that they were entwined around each other and neither man seemed to be wearing anything that he could see.

He grinned and whistled happily when he drove home after he was done with the work he needed to do. He wondered what Tony would say if he told the man to buy a bigger bed to accommodate two grown men and a cat. But then he thought, with his luck, Tony would explain to him in great and explicit detail the reasons why a tiny bed is perfect for two grown men who don’t want much space between them, and he thought nah. He’ll just wait for Abby to find out and sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

**Author's Note:**

> This is where I got the [yoga pose names](http://workouttrends.com/yoga-poses/inverted-position/). I did do a little bit of research into inverted yoga poses and was super envious of all the people able to do it!
> 
> The hiccups, if it persists for over 48 hours, is something to actually take quite seriously as it can be a symptom for a number of serious illnesses. I did have a lot of fun googling hiccups and things related to the hiccups. I'd intended for this to be a humorous story but the muse wasn't having it and made me write this instead. It's not light-hearted and humorous but there's some fluffiness and hopefully it covers the prompt. Hope y'all like it anyways.
> 
> Also, in medicine a hiccup is known as a synchronous diaphragmatic flutter (SDF) or singultus. ;)
> 
> And now I might be done with holiday fics for a while. Although who knows what the muse will want to do ;)
> 
> Thanks again! Happy Holidays!  
> -j  
> xoxo


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